Chapter XI: In Persia--Translating the Scriptures (2)

When Henry Martyn did the noblest achievement of his life, the production of the Persian New Testament, he unknowingly linked himself with the greatest of the Greek Fathers, near whose dust his own was about to be laid. Until the Eastern Church ceased to be aggressive--that is, missionary--Persia, like Central Asia up to China itself, promised to be all Christian. Islam, a corrupted mixture of Judaism and Christianity, took its place. Persia sent a bishop to the Council of Nicæa in 325, and the great Constantine wrote a letter to King Sapor, recommending to his protection the Christian Churches in his empire.[77] Chrysostom (347-407), in his second homily on John, incidentally tells us that 'the Persians, having translated the doctrines of the Gospel into their own tongue, had learned, though barbarians, the true philosophy.' In his homily on the memorial of Mary he puts the Persians first, and our British forefathers last, in this remarkable passage: 'The Persians, the Indians, Scythians, Thracians, Sarmatians, the race of the Moors, and the inhabitants of the British Isles, celebrate a deed performed in a private family in Judea by a woman that had been a sinner.' The isles of Britain, Claudius Buchanan well remarks, then last, are now the first to restore this memorial to the Persians as well as to other Mohammedan nations. Even so late as 1740 the tyrant Nadir Shah, inquiring as to Jesus Christ, asked for a Persian copy of the Gospels, and had presented to him the combined work of an ignorant Romish priest and some Mohammedan moollas, which excited his ridicule. The traveller, Jonas Hanway, tells us that when Henry Martyn saw this production he exclaimed that he did not wonder at Nadir's contempt of it.

Martyn arrived in Shiraz on June 11, 1811; in a week he began his Persian translation of the New Testament, and in February 1812 he completed the happy toil, carried on amidst disputations with Soofis and Shi'ahs, Jews and Christians of the Oriental rites, while consumption wasted his body. His 'leisure' he spent in translating the Hebrew Psalter. Let us look at him, in that South Persian summer and winter and summer again, now in the city of Shiraz, now driven by the sultry heat to the garden of roses and orange-trees outside the walls near the tomb of Hafiz. The Christian poet has pictured the scene--Alford, when Dean of Canterbury in 1851. Twenty years after, he himself was laid in the churchyard of the mother church of England, St. Martin's, under this inscription--'Diversorium Viatoris Hierosolymam Proficiscentis':

_HENRY MARTYN AT SHIRAZ_

I

A vision of the bright Shiraz, of Persian bards the theme:
The vine with bunches laden hangs o'er the crystal stream;
The nightingale all day her notes in rosy thickets trills,
And the brooding heat-mist faintly lies along the distant hills.

II

About the plain are scattered wide, in many a crumbling heap,
The fanes of other days, and tombs where Iran's poets sleep:
And in the midst, like burnished gems, in noonday light repose
The minarets of bright Shiraz--the City of the Rose.

III

One group beside the river bank in rapt discourse are seen,
Where hangs the golden orange on its boughs of purest green;
Their words are sweet and low, and their looks are lit with joy,
Some holy blessing seems to rest on them and their employ.

IV

The pale-faced Frank among them sits: what brought him from afar?
Nor bears he bales of merchandise, nor teaches skill in war;
One pearl alone he brings with him,--the Book of life and death;
One warfare only teaches he--to fight the fight of faith.

V

And Iran's sons are round him, and one with solemn tone
Tells how the Lord of Glory was rejected by His own;
Tells, from the wondrous Gospel, of the Trial and the Doom,
The words Divine of Love and Might--the Scourge, the Cross, the Tomb.

VI

Far sweeter to the stranger's ear those Eastern accents sound
Than music of the nightingale that fills the air around:
Lovelier than balmiest odours sent from gardens of the rose,
The fragrance from the contrite soul and chastened lip that flows.

VII

The nightingales have ceased to sing, the roses' leaves are shed,
The Frank's pale face in Tokat's field hath mouldered with the dead:
Alone and all unfriended, midst his Master's work he fell,
With none to bathe his fevered brow, with none his tale to tell.

VIII

But still those sweet and solemn tones about him sound in bliss,
And fragrance from those flowers of God for evermore is his:
For his the meed, by grace, of those who, rich in zeal and love,
Turn many unto righteousness, and shine as stars above.

This was the beginning of the Persian New Testament:

TO REV. DAVID BROWN

Shiraz: June 24, 1811.

Dearest Sir,--I believe I told you that the advanced state of
the season rendered it necessary to go to Arabia circuitously by
way of Persia. Behold me therefore in the Athens of Fars, the
haunt of the Persian man. Beneath are the ashes of Hafiz and
Sadi; above, green gardens and running waters, roses and
nightingales. Does Mr. Bird envy my lot? Let him solace himself
with Aldeen. How gladly would I give him Shiraz for Aldeen; how
often while toiling through this miserable country have I
sighed for Aldeen! If I am ever permitted to see India again
nothing but dire necessity, or the imperious call of duty, will
ever induce me to travel again. One thing is good here, the
fruit; we have apples and apricots, plums, nectarines,
greengages and cherries, all of which are served up with ice and
snow. When I have said this for Shiraz I have said all.

But to have done with what grows out of the soil, let us come to
the men. The Persians are, like ourselves, immortal; their
language had passed a long way beyond the limits of Iran. The
men of Shiraz propose to translate the New Testament with me.
Can I refuse to stay? After much deliberation I have determined
to remain here six months. It is sorely against my will, but I
feel it to be a duty. From all that I can collect there appears
no probability of our ever having a good translation made out of
Persia. At Bombay I showed Moolla Firoz, the most learned man
there, the three Persian translations, viz. the Polyglot, and
Sabat's two. He disapproved of them all. At Bushire, which is in
Persia, the man of the greatest name was Sayyid Hosein. Of the
three he liked Sabat's Persian best, but said it seemed written
by an Indian. On my arrival at this place I produced my
specimens once more. Sabat's Persian was much ridiculed;
sarcastic remarks were made on the fondness for fine words so
remarkable in the Indians, who seemed to think that hard words
made fine writing. His Persic also was presently thrown aside,
and to my no small surprise the old despised Polyglot was not
only spoken of as superior to the rest, but it was asked, What
fault is found in this?--this is the language we speak. The king
has also signified that it is his wish that as little Arabic as
possible may be employed in the papers presented to him. So that
simple Persian is likely to become more and more fashionable.
This is a change favourable certainly to our glorious cause. To
the poor the Gospel will be preached. We began our work with
the Gospel of St. John, and five chapters are put out of hand.
It is likely to be the simplest thing imaginable; and I dare say
the pedantic Arab will turn up his nose at it; but what the men
of Shiraz approve who can gainsay? Let Sabat confine himself to
the Arabic, and he will accomplish a great work. The
forementioned Sayyid Hosein of Bushire is an Arab. I showed him
Erpenius's Arabic Testament, the Christian Knowledge Society,
Sabat's, and the Polyglot. After rejecting all but Sabat's, he
said this is good, very good, and then read off the 5th of
Matthew in a fine style, giving it unqualified commendation as
he went along. On my proposing to him to give a specimen of what
he thought the best Persian style, he consented; but, said he,
give me this to translate from, laying his hand on Sabat's
Arabic. At Muscat an Arab officer who had attended us as guard
and guide one day when we walked into the country, came on board
with his slave to take leave of us. The slave, who had argued
with me very strenuously in favour of his religion, reminded me
of a promise I had made him of giving him the Gospel. On my
producing an Arabic New Testament, he seized it and began to
read away upon deck, but presently stopped, and said it was not
fine Arabic. However, he carried off the book.

In eight months the Persian translation of the New Testament was done. The _Journal_, during that period, from July 1811 to February 1812, as the sacred task went on, reveals the Holy Spirit moving the hearts of the translator's Mohammedan assistant and Soofi disputants by 'the things of Christ,' while it shows His servant bearing witness, by the account of his own conversion, to His power to save and to make holy.

_December 12._--Letters at last from India. Mirza Sayyid Ali
was curious to know in what way we corresponded, and made me
read Mr. Brown's letter to me, and mine to Corrie. He took care
to let his friends know that we wrote nothing about our own
affairs: it was all about translations and the cause of Christ.
With this he was delighted.

_December 16._--In translating 2 Cor. i. 22, 'Who hath given the
earnest of the Spirit in our hearts,' he was much struck when it
was explained to him. 'Oh, that I had it,' said he; 'have you
received it?' I told him that, as I had no doubt of my
acceptance through Christ, I concluded that I had. Once before,
on the words, 'Who are saved?' he expressed his surprise at the
confidence with which Christians spoke of salvation. On 1 Cor.
xv. he observed, that the doctrine of the resurrection of the
body was unreasonable; but that as the Mohammedans understood
it, it was impossible; on which account the Soofis rejected it.

_Christmas Day._--I made a great feast for the Russians and
Armenians; and, at Jaffir Ali Khan's request, invited the Soofi
master, with his disciples. I hoped there would be some
conversation on the occasion of our meeting, and, indeed, Mirza
Sayyid Ali did make some attempts, and explained to the old man
the meaning of the Lord's Supper; but the sage maintaining his
usual silence, the subject was dropped. I expressed my
satisfaction at seeing them assembled on such an occasion, and
my hope that they would remember the day in succeeding years,
and that though they would never see me again in the succeeding
years, they would not forget that I had brought them the Gospel.
The old man coldly replied that 'God would guide those whom He
chose.' Most of the time they continued was before dinner; the
moment that was despatched, they rose and went away. The custom
is, to sit five or six hours before dinner, and at great men's
houses singers attend.

_December 31._--The accounts of the desolations of war during
the last year, which I have been reading in some Indian
newspapers, make the world appear more gloomy than ever. How
many souls hurried into eternity unprepared! How many thousands
of widows and orphans left to mourn! But admire, my soul, the
matchless power of God, that out of this ruin He has prepared
for Himself an inheritance. At last the scene shall change, and
I shall find myself in a world where all is love.

_1812._--The last has been in some respects a memorable year. I
have been led, by what I have reason to consider as the
particular providence of God, to this place; and have undertaken
an important work, which has gone on without material
interruption, and is now nearly finished. I like to find myself
employed usefully, in a way I did not expect or foresee,
especially if my own will is in any degree crossed by the work
unexpectedly assigned me, as there is then reason to believe
that God is acting. The present year will probably be a perilous
one, but my life is of little consequence, whether I live to
finish the Persian New Testament or do not. I look back with
pity and shame upon my former self, and on the importance I then
attached to my life and labours. The more I see of my own works
the more I am ashamed of them. Coarseness and clumsiness mar all
the works of man. I am sick when I look at man and his wisdom
and his doings, and am relieved only by reflecting that we have
a city whose builder and maker is God. The least of _His_ works
it is refreshing to look at. A dried leaf or a straw makes me
feel myself in good company: complacency and admiration take
place of disgust.

I compared with pain our Persian translation with the original;
to say nothing of the precision and elegance of the sacred text,
its perspicuity is that which sets at defiance all attempts to
equal it.

_January 16._--Mirza Sayyid Ali told me accidentally to-day of a
distich made by his friend Mirza Koochut, at Teheran, in honour
of a victory gained by Prince Abbas Mirza over the Russians. The
sentiment was, that he had killed so many of the Christians,
that Christ, from the fourth heaven, took hold of Mahomet's
skirt to entreat him to desist. I was cut to the soul at this
blasphemy. In prayer I could think of nothing else but that
great day when the Son of God shall come in the clouds of
heaven, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
convincing men of all their hard speeches which they have spoken
against Him.

Mirza Sayyid Ali perceived that I was considerably disordered,
and was sorry for having repeated the verse, but asked what it
was that was so offensive. I told him that 'I could not endure
existence if Jesus was not glorified; it would be hell to me if
He were to be always thus dishonoured.' He was astonished, and
again asked why. 'If anyone pluck out your eyes,' I replied,
'there is no saying _why_ you feel pain; it is feeling. It is
because I am one with Christ that I am thus dreadfully wounded.'
On his again apologising, I told him that 'I rejoiced at what
had happened, inasmuch as it made me feel nearer the Lord than
ever. It is when the head or heart is struck, that every member
feels its membership.' This conversation took place while we
were translating. In the evening he mentioned the circumstance
of a young man's being murdered--a fine athletic youth, whom I
had often seen in the garden. Some acquaintance of his in a
slight quarrel had plunged a dagger in his breast. Observing me
look sorrowful, he asked why. 'Because,' said I, 'he was cut off
in his sins, and had no time to repent.' 'It was just in that
way,' said he, 'that I should like to die; not dragging out a
miserable existence on a sick-bed, but transported at once into
another state.' I observed that 'it was not desirable to be
hurried into the immediate presence of God.' 'Do you think,'
said he, 'that there is any difference in the presence of God
here or there?' 'Indeed I do,' said I. 'Here we see through a
glass darkly; but there, face to face.' He then entered into
some metaphysical Soofi disputation about the identity of sin
and holiness, heaven and hell: to all which I made no reply.

_January 18._--Aga Ali of Media came: and with him and Mirza Ali
I had a long and warm discussion about the essentials of
Christianity. The Mede, seeing us at work upon the Epistles,
said, 'he should be glad to read them; as for the Gospels they
were nothing but tales, which were of no use to him; for
instance,' said he, 'if Christ raised four hundred dead to life,
what is that to me?' I said, 'it certainly was of importance,
for His work furnished a reason for our depending upon His
words.' 'What did He say,' asked he, 'that was not known before?
the love of God, humility--who does not know these things?'
'Were these things,' said I, 'known before Christ, either among
Greeks or Romans, with all their philosophy?' They avowed that
the Hindu book _Juh_ contained precepts of this kind. I
questioned its antiquity; 'but however that may be,' I added,
'Christ came not to _teach_ so much as to _die_; the truths I
spoke of as confirmed by His miracles were those relating to His
person, such as, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." Here Mirza Sayyid Ali told him
that I had professed to have no doubt of my salvation. He asked
what I meant. I told him, 'that though sin still remained, I was
assured that it should not regain dominion; and that I should
never come into condemnation, but was accepted in the Beloved.'
Not a little surprised, he asked Mirza Sayyid Ali whether he
comprehended this. 'No,' said he, 'nor Mirza Ibrahim, to whom I
mentioned it.' The Mede again turning to me asked, 'How do you
know this? how do you know you have experienced the second
birth?' 'Because,' said I, 'we have the Spirit of the Father;
what He wishes we wish; what He hates we hate.' Here he began to
be a little more calm and less contentious, and mildly asked
how I had obtained this peace of mind: 'Was it merely these
books?' said he, taking up some of our sheets. I told him,
'These books, with prayer.' 'What was the beginning of it,' said
he, 'the society of some friends?' I related to him my religious
history, the substance of which was, that I took my Bible before
God in prayer, and prayed for forgiveness through Christ,
assurance of it through His Spirit, and grace to obey His
commandments. They then both asked whether the same benefit
would be conferred on them. 'Yes,' said I, 'for so the Apostles
preached, that all who were baptized in His name should receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost.' 'Can you assure me,' said Mirza
Sayyid Ali, 'that the Spirit will be given to me? if so, I will
be baptized immediately.' 'Who am I that I should be surety?' I
replied; 'I bring you this message from God, that he who,
despairing of himself, rests for righteousness on the Son of
God, shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; and to this I can
add my testimony, if that be worth anything, that I have found
the promise fulfilled in myself. But if after baptism you should
not find it so in you, accuse not the Gospel of falsehood. It is
possible that your faith might not be sincere; indeed, so fully
am I persuaded that you do not believe on the Son of God, that
if you were to entreat ever so earnestly for baptism I should
not dare to administer it at this time, when you have shown so
many signs of an unhumbled heart.' 'What! would you have me
believe,' said he, 'as a child?' 'Yes,' said I. 'True,' said he,
'I think that is the only way.' Aga Ali said no more, except,
'Certainly he is a good man!'

_January 23._--Put on my English dress, and went to the
Vizier's, to see part of the tragedy of Husain's death,[78]
which they contrive to spin out so as to make it last the first
ten days of the Mohurrum. All the apparatus consisted of a few
boards for a stage, two tables and a pulpit, under an immense
awning, in the court where the company were assembled. The
_dramatis personæ_ were two; the daughter of Husain, whose part
was performed by a boy, and a messenger; they both read their
parts. Every now and then loud sobs were heard all over the
court. After this several feats of activity were exhibited; the
Vizier sat with the moollas. I was appointed to a seat where
indeed I saw as much as I wanted, but which, I afterwards
perceived, was not the place of honour. As I trust I am far
enough from desiring the chief seats in the synagogues, there
was nothing in this that could offend me; but I do not think it
right to let him have another opportunity of showing a slight to
my country in my person.

_January 24._--Found Sayyid Ali rather serious this evening. He
said he did not know what to do to have his mind made up about
religion. Of all the religions Christ's was the best; but
whether to prefer this to Soofi-ism he could not tell. In these
doubts he is tossed to and fro, and is often kept awake the
whole night in tears. He and his brother talk together on these
things till they are almost crazed. Before he was engaged in
this work of translation, he says he used to read about two or
three hours a day, now he can do nothing else; has no
inclination for anything else, and feels unhappy if he does not
correct his daily portion. His late employment has given a new
turn to his thoughts as well as to those of his friends; they
had not the most distant conception of the contents of the New
Testament. He says his Soofi friends are exceedingly anxious to
see the Epistles, from the accounts he gives of them, and also
he is sure that almost the whole of Shiraz are so sensible of
the load of unmeaning ceremonies in which their religion
consists, that they will rejoice to see or hear of anything like
freedom, and that they would be more willing to embrace Christ
than the Soofis, who, after taking so much pains to be
independent of all law, would think it degrading to submit
themselves to any law again, however light.

_February 2._--From what I suffer in this city, I can understand
the feelings of Lot. The face of the poor Russian appears to me
like the face of an angel, because he does not tell lies. Heaven
will be heaven because there will not be one liar there. The
Word of God is more precious to me at this time than I ever
remember it to have been; and of all the promises in it, none is
more sweet to me than this--'He shall reign till He hath put all
enemies under His feet.'

_February 3._--A packet arrived from India without a single
letter for me. It was some disappointment to me: but let me be
satisfied with my God, and if I cannot have the comfort of
hearing from my friends, let me return with thankfulness to His
Word, which is a treasure of which none envy me the possession,
and where I can find what will more than compensate for the loss
of earthly enjoyments. Resignation to the will of God is a
lesson which I must learn, and which I trust He is teaching me.

_February 9._--Aga Boozong came. After much conversation, he
said, 'Prove to me, from the beginning, that Christianity is the
way: how will you proceed? what do you say must be done?' 'If
you would not believe a person who wrought a miracle before
you,' said I, 'I have nothing to say; I cannot proceed a step.'
'I will grant you,' said Sayyid Ali, 'that Christ was the Son of
God, and more than that.' 'That you despair of yourself, and are
willing to trust in Him alone for salvation?' 'Yes.' 'And are
ready to confess Christ before men, and act conformably to His
Word?' 'Yes: what else must I do?' 'Be baptized in the name of
Christ.' 'And what shall I gain?' 'The gift of the Holy Ghost.
The end of faith is salvation in the world to come; but even
here you shall have the Spirit to purify your heart, and to give
you the assurance of everlasting happiness.' Thus Aga Boozong
had an opportunity of hearing those strange things from my own
mouth, of which he had been told by his disciple the Mede. 'You
can say too,' said he, 'that you have received the Spirit?' I
told them I believed I had; 'for, notwithstanding all my sins,
the bent of my heart was to God in a way it never was before;
and that, according to my present feeling, I could not be happy
if God was not glorified, and if I had not the enjoyment of His
presence, for which I felt that I was now educating.' Aga
Boozong shed tears.

After this came Aga Ali, the Mede, to hear, as he said, some of
the sentences of Paul. Mirza Sayyid Ali had told them, 'that if
they had read nothing but the Gospels, they knew nothing of the
religion of Christ.' The sheet I happened to have by me was the
one containing the fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters of the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians, which Aga Ali read out.

At this time the company had increased considerably. I desired
Aga Ali to notice particularly the latter part of the fifth
chapter, 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
Himself.' He then read it a second time, but they saw not its
glory; however, they spoke in high terms of the pith and
solidity of Paul's sentences. They were evidently on the watch
for anything that tallied with their own sentiments. Upon the
passage, 'Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord
Jesus,' the Mede observed, 'Do you not see that Jesus was in
Paul, and that Paul was only another name for Jesus?' And the
text, 'Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; and whether
we be sober, it is for your sakes,' they interpreted thus: 'We
are absorbed in the contemplation of God, and when we recover,
it is to instruct you.'

Walking afterwards with Mirza Sayyid Ali, he told me how much
one of my remarks had affected him, namely, that he had no
humility. He had been talking about simplicity and humility as
characteristic of the Soofis. 'Humility!' I said to him, 'if you
were humble, you would not dispute in this manner; you would be
like a child.' He did not open his mouth afterwards, but to say,
'True; I have no humility.' In evident distress, he observed,
'The truth is, we are in a state of compound
ignorance--ignorant, yet ignorant of our ignorance.'

_February 18._--While walking in the garden, in some disorder
from vexation, two Mussulman Jews came up and asked me what
would become of them in another world. The Mahometans were right
in their way, they supposed, and we in ours, but what must they
expect? After rectifying their mistake as to the Mahometans, I
mentioned two or three reasons for believing that we are right:
such as their dispersion, and the cessation of sacrifices
immediately on the appearance of Jesus. 'True, true,' they said,
with great feeling and seriousness; indeed, they seemed disposed
to yield assent to anything I said. They confessed they had
become Mahometans only on compulsion, and that Abdoolghuni
wished to go to Baghdad, thinking he might throw off the mask
there with safety, but they asked what I thought. I said that
the Governor was a Mahometan. 'Did I think Syria safer?' 'The
safest place in the East,' I said, 'was India.' Feelings of pity
for God's ancient people, and having the awful importance of
eternal things impressed on my mind by the seriousness of their
inquiries as to what would become of them, relieved me from the
pressure of my comparatively insignificant distresses. I, a poor
Gentile, blest, honoured, and loved; secured for ever by the
everlasting covenant, whilst the children of the kingdom are
still lying in outer darkness! Well does it become me to be
thankful!

This is my birthday, on which I complete my thirty-first year.
The Persian New Testament has been begun, and I may say finished
in it, as only the last eight chapters of the Revelation remain.
Such a painful year I never passed, owing to the privations I
have been called to on the one hand, and the spectacle before me
of human depravity on the other. But I hope that I have not
come to this seat of Satan in vain. The Word of God has found
its way into Persia, and it is not in Satan's power to oppose
its progress if the Lord hath sent it.

A week after, on February 24, 1812, Henry Martyn corrected the last page of the New Testament in Persian. As we read his words of thanksgiving to the Lord and his invocation of the Holy Spirit, in the already darkening light of his approaching end, before the beatific vision promised by the Master to the pure in heart, and the blessed companionship with Himself guaranteed to every true servant, we recall the Scottish Columba, whose last act was to transcribe the eleventh verse of the thirty-fourth Psalm, and the English Bede, who died when translating the ninth verse of the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel.

I have many mercies for which to thank the Lord, and this is not
the least. Now may that Spirit who gave the Word, and called me,
I trust, to be an interpreter of it, graciously and powerfully
apply it to the hearts of sinners, even to the gathering an
elect people from amongst the long-estranged Persians!

FOOTNOTES:

[66] 'That list, in which Martyn holds a conspicuous place, has grown long of late years, till we are half tempted to forget that the share our age has taken and is taking in the work of translating and distributing the Scriptures, links on to that of those who could remember men who had seen the Lord.' Canon Edmonds' _Sermon_, preached in the Cathedral Church of Truro, October 16, 1890 (Exeter).

[67] _The Churchman_ for September 1889, p. 635.

[68] See p. 314.

[69] Evidently taken in detail from Adam's _Religious World Displayed_.

[70] Fourth edition, London, 1822.

[71] _Fortieth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society_, p. 97.

[72] _The Bible of Every Land_ (Bagster), 1848.

[73] See _Contributions Towards a History of Biblical Translations in India_. Calcutta and London (Dalton), 1854.

[74] _Monograph on Hindustani Versions of the Old and New Testaments_, by the Rev. R.C. Mather, LL.D. (without date).

[75] _The Life of Rev. T.T. Thomason, M.A._, by the late Rev. J. Sargent, M.A., second edition, Seeley's, 1834.

[76] Dr. Milner, Dr. Rumsden, Dr. Jowett, Mr. Farish (Charles Simeon's writing).

[77] _Christian Researches in Asia, with Notices of the Translation of the Scriptures into the Oriental Languages_, by the Rev. Claudius Buchanan, D.D., 10th edition, London, 1814.

[78] See _The Miracle Play of Hasan and Husain_, collected from Oral Tradition, by Sir Lewis Pelly, two vols. 1879.